Field
The present disclosure relates generally to communication systems and processes and more particularly, to setting and indication of call priority levels for mobile devices and handling of calls with different priority levels.
Background
With standard smartphone functionality, a user (caller) may place a call to another user (callee). This standard functionality may involve the caller entering the callee's telephone number, selecting the callee's name from a list of contacts, or some other input function. This standard functionality may involve the callee's smartphone producing an indicator of the incoming call as an alert to the callee. This indicator may be an audible indicator (ringtone), a visual indicator (“Incoming Call from Bob” displayed on smartphone screen), a vibration indicator, or some other indicator.
With this standard smartphone functionality, the callee may find himself at times in a situation where he decides not to answer an incoming call. The callee may decide not to answer the incoming call after seeing the identity of the caller, such as by viewing the smartphone screen. The callee may decide not to answer the incoming call without seeing the identity of the caller, such as when the smartphone is in his pocket and he does not want to remove it. As an example, the receiver may be in a business meeting. While in the business meeting, the callee receives an incoming call from the caller. The callee decides not to answer the incoming call given that he is in the business meeting. As a further example, the callee may be concentrating on an activity, such as reading a book. While reading, the callee receives an incoming call from the caller. The callee decides not to answer the incoming call, and potentially does not even look to see who the caller is, given that he is concentrating on reading.